Carpets are usually finished with several different types of treatments including gloss, stainblocking, anti-static, and water and oil repellency.
One finish that is often applied to a carpet provides the carpet with "soil resistance" or "anti-resoiling". This property prevents subsequent soils from adhering to carpets as a result of normal use such as foot traffic on carpets, thus making vacuuming more efficient. Carpets vary tremendously in their anti-soiling properties. The finish may increase the efficacy of the carpet to resist staining, but unfortunately, soiling will occur.
Furthermore, whether or not a carpet has such a finish, cleaning the carpet with a poorly formulated carpet cleaning solution can work in opposition to any soil resistant properties that the carpet may have once had. For instance, cleaning compositions containing sticky materials such as oily materials, sticky detergents and water absorbent materials such as hygroscopic salts can leave a tacky or sticky residue that would attract dirt or dust. Thus it is often expressed that freshly cleaned carpets often "get dirty faster" than a new carpet.
Surfactants are typically used in carpet cleaning solutions and contribute to the effectiveness of the cleaning power and act to emulsify any water-insoluble solvents that may be present for oily soil removal. However, surfactants often leave a sticky residue once the cleaning solution has dried, particularly if high concentrations of surfactants are used.
A variety of carpet cleaning compositions are available on the market today. Most of these are composed of polymeric resins and surfactants and solvents, and are typically in liquid or aerosol form, although powders are available as well.
Some of these cleaning solutions have been formulated so as to minimize he tacky residue left behind. For instance, French Pat. No. 2,272,216 describes the leaning as well as the antistatic and antisoiling dressing of textile materials such as rugs and carpets by means of foaming aqueous emulsions which, upon drying, leave on the fiber a solid nonsticky residue which can be removed by means of brushing or vacuuming.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,534,167 to Billman describes a carpet cleaning and restoring composition which is composed of from about 0.5% to about 6.0% by weight of ethylene glycol n-hexyl ether; from about 0.05% to about 2.0% by weight of a water-soluble or water miscible fluorinated hydrocarbon which forms a water and oil repellent surface upon drying; from about 0.25% to about 5.0% by weight of a surfactant selected from the group consisting of nonionic surfactants and mixtures thereof; and from about 0.5% to about 7.0% by weight of a olefinic/acrylic polymer having an acid number from about 10 to about 450. Billman states that the composition forms a non-tacky, soil repellent residue upon drying and restores the water repellent finish of the carpet.
Surprisingly, the present invention provides a carpet cleaning solution comprising a novel polymeric emulsifier that has excellent cleaning properties and that requires little or no surfactant for good emulsification, and consequently does not leave a tacky residue on the carpet once the solution has dried. Furthermore, the compositions are free from fluorochemicals.